President Macky Sall on Saturday postponed Senegal’s planned Feb. 25 presidential election, announcing in a televised address to the nation that he had cancelled the relevant electoral law due to electoral disputes he warned could fuel unrest.
With little more than three weeks to go before the vote, the unprecedented step of delaying the poll, to an unspecified date, pitches Senegal into uncharted constitutional waters that some opposition and civil society groups warn could destabilise the country.
Sall’s decision follows the constitutional council’s January decision to exclude some prominent contenders from the electoral list, which has fuelled discontent about the election process.
“These troubled conditions could seriously undermine the credibility of the ballot by sowing the seeds of pre- and post-electoral disputes,” Sall said in his address.
He did not set a new date for the vote, but said there would be a national dialogue to ensure the election would be free, fair and transparent.
He said the postponement would not affect his decision not to run for a third term – an issue that has helped fuel recurrent and sometimes deadly protests in what is normally one of West Africa’s most stable democracies.
The capital Dakar appeared calm after Sall’s announcement with no immediate sign of people taking to the streets in protest.
REUTERS
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